Sometime in the past the Navarians shared a common ancestor with the Bruidians before emerging into two different species for unknown reasons. Since then they have been warring with each other over who have the right to truly lay claim to Lopovius.

In the early winter of 2420, a Navarian ambassador is sent on a mission of diplomacy to the Union ship USS Orville. His mission is to oversee Union research on an ancient birthing bucket recovered from the planet Lopovius's original inhabitants. For years, the Bruidian and Navarian species waged a protracted and bloody conflict for control over the planet, both sides claiming descent from the early inhabitants over 30,000 years ago. If genetic material could be found on the bucket and tested, Bruidian and Navarian government agreed that a genetic match with the modern species would establish rightful domain over the planet.

The Bruidian and Navarian ambassadors arrive with their staff, and hostility between the two erupts almost immediately in the Orville's Shuttle Bay. However, each ambassadorial team maintains a friendly attitude toward the Union officers, and Captain Ed Mercer successfully calms each side down.

Examination and testing of the bucket by the Union forensic archaeologist Darulio takes a week, an amount of time that strains the tenuous peace between the species. During that time, the ambassadors frequently clash, vowing escalating forms of attack on each other.

Several days in, the ambassadors begin to suspect that the Union is plotting to manipulate the results for the other side. With Darulio's analysis still a day away from completion, hostility erupts into all-out war. Both ambassadors hail their governments' war fleets. Second Officer Bortus, as acting captain, confiscates their comscanners and confines them to their quarters. Unfortunately, the fleets were already hailed, and both militaries prepare for a showdown over Lopovius.

Thankfully, Darulio knows how to buy the Union time: Nurse Henry Parksynthesizes an artificial version of Darulio's powerful sex pheromones and plants it on the ambassadors. They are tricked into touching each other, thereby sharing the pheromones with each other and falling deeply in love.

The Bruidian and Navarian ambassadors call off hostilities and proudly announce their romantic relationship to all. They leave arm-in-arm, and a temporary peace in hand.